The Odd Man Out: Part 2
by kj2
Summary: The guys realize Raphael is missing and begin their search to find him. If part of this starts sounding like something out Ranma, you'll see those guys soon enough, in the next part or so.


**The Odd Man Out: Part 2**

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I don't own the Turtles. If part of this sounds a little like Ranma1/2, well, you can expect to see some of our favorite characters from that series later on in other parts. Victoria, Ariel, and Francis are my own characters.   
Comments: Please, but like I said before, go easy. I know the first part kind of sucked, I got careless and didn't check it for mistakes before submitting it, but I'll try to do better from now on. If the first part seemed a bit slow, don't worry the other parts will pick up. I'm not certain how many parts I'm going to have altogether so please, bear with me. Sorry I didn't put all of this in with Part 1.   
  


Raphael was once again pacing the length of his little cell when he heard footsteps approaching. He stopped, and tried to look down the dark hallway to see who it was, but was unable to tell until they were right in front of him. 

Ten very large dragons stared menacingly at him from opposite his cell doors. Raphael simply glared back at them. From the looks on their faces he could tell they were up to something. Another beating perhaps? Probably so. 

"So, I see my gracious hosts have decided not to come out and entertain the guest, huh? Why don't all of you ugly, nasty smelling, scaly covered bozos go tell your boss that his 'guest' isn't satisfied with his room." Raphael said sarcastically, giving them all a smug smile. 

He took wary step backwards as they opened the cell door and entered, each drawing out his own weapons. 

Raphael just continued to smile and proceeded to raise his good fist in self defense. He kept his injured wrist close to his chest and tried as hard as he could not to show them how much pain that he was actually in from their earlier battle. He just refused to give them any satisfaction of the sort as they began their attack. 

********************************************* 

"Well Wick, how much longer until you're finished with that spell? You've been working on it almost an entire week already." Dragon Lord asked of the puny little dragon, who stood mixing varied ingredients into a huge iron pot. 

"Patience Master, patience. We only need one more ingredient to complete the spell, then we can proceed with the rest of our plans to destroy the Turtles and all of their allies." Wick told him as he continued to stir. 

"Well how long until we get the final ingredient? Our courier should have gotten it and been back already! I hate waiting. This spell of yours had better work." 

"It will Master, it will. Our courier sent word earlier this morning, he should be here with the water from the Cursed Springs very, very shortly." 

"Cursed Springs? Those wouldn't happen to be the Jusekyo Springs? The ones with the power to give those who touch its water the ability to change form would they?" Dragon Lord asked. He narrowed his eyes and he glared at Wick, hoping the little dragon wasn't stupid enough to try and acquire water from those springs. 

Wick gulped, those were the same springs. How was he going to tell his master that he may have just made a drastic mistake in sending a courier to retrieve such a powerful ingredient? 

"Um, uh, well, uh, yes. But Master, I gave specific orders to our courier to gather water from a spring of a more harmless creature. And I told him to wear waterproof clothing and to by no means at all touch the water with his bare skin. This way if something does go wrong we can rest assured that our enemies won't have a significant advantage over us." Wick tried to explain, hoping that he was right and that his courier was able to find a more harmless spring to gather from. 

"You Fool!!! You'd better hope you're right. Because if anything does go wrong, and one of the turtles does acquire this power you will not live long enough to regret it." 

"Yes Master. Don't worry, I'll see to it that nothing goes wrong. Once The Rage Spell is complete the Turtles will stop at nothing to kill one another. And none of them will get their hands on the water." 

"You're certain there's no known cure for The Rage Spell? That once it is cast no one will be able to reverse it?" 

"The only cure for the spell was destroyed almost immediately after it was created centuries ago, Master. There is no way to reverse the spell. All we have to do is pour the liquid over the Turtles and the mere sight of the first person they see will be enough to activate the spell. All we have to do is make sure we're well out sight while pouring it over them." Wick said, laughing. Reluctantly, Dragon Lord joined, he hoped that the spell really did work. 

********************************************* 

Splinter was sitting in the oversized armchair sipping his tea and talking with April O'Neil in her apartment listening intently to her as she told him about an odd case that had occurred just a few days ago in China. 

"Our sources said that sightseers visiting the Jusekyo Springs in China claim they saw some sort of demon or monster lurking in the nearby woods. I know it sounds crazy, but the description one of the witnesses gave police fits the profile of one of Dragon Lord's men almost to a tee." April told Splinter, handing him a sketch the newstation had received via fax earlier that day. 

Splinter took the sketch and examined it closely. Yes, it did look like a dragon from the Rank Army. 

"April, if what these witnesses have described is true, then we may all be in grave danger. Dragon Lord may be using the water from these springs to cast a potentially strong spell." 

"But Splinter, I don't understand. What's so special about the water from these springs?" 

"The springs are cursed, April. You see the springs were cursed many years ago. It is said that each spring is cursed by a poor lost soul who drowned there and if anyone touches the water from the spring then they will take the form of who or whatever drowned there." Splinter tried to explain, but April still looked confused. 

"You mean to say that if thousands of years ago say, I don't know, a dog died in one of those springs, and I fell in that spring then I would turn into a dog? That's impossible." 

"Impossible, maybe, but if there is any truth to the legends at all April it could spell trouble for all of us. Besides, we must take into account the fact that we haven't had any trouble with the Rank Army in at least month. We should find the Turtles and warn them. Just to be safe." 

Just then Splinter felt one of his students calling out to him. He jerked his up and tried to concentrate on which one it probably was, soon he knew. It was Raphael. 

"Splinter, is there something wrong? Is it one of the guys?" April asked walking over to where Splinter sat. 

"Yes, Raphael, I believe he is in great danger. I am sorry to cut our visit short April, but I must go find the others so that we may go find him. Tell Casey that we will meet again another night." Splinter apologized, and he headed towards the back door. He opened it to find Casey Jones standing there, his hand raised to knock. 

"Hey Splinter, long time no see. Don't tell me you're leaving already, I just here." Casey replied smiling at the giant rat. 

"Splinter says one of turtles might be in danger Casey. He's going to get the others, and I'm going with him" 

"What? Who? Wait, you're not going without me, its been way too long since there's been any action around here." 

"Casey, April, I am very thankful for your concern, but please stay. I feel that this may be too dangerous for you to come. Neither of you have ever gone against Dragon Lord before," Splinter warned, trying to get the two humans to stay put and out of danger. 

"No way, man, you've no idea just how long I've been waiting to get my hands on one of those ugly things" 

"Yeah, and don't worry about me, I've been around the guys long enough to pick more than a few minor moves myself, besides you just may end up needing us." 

Splinter just shook his head and reluctantly agreed. He knew he would not be able to convince them to stay now. 

******************************************** 

"Hey Raph, Splinter, we're back dudes." Michaelangelo called as he walked into the living room area of the old subway station that they had made their home in. He was followed closely by Torrie, his new girlfriend and the rest of the Turtles. 

"Gee, I guess Splinter's still with April and Casey. Wonder if Raphs' there too?" Donatello commented as he looked around the empty room. 

"Who cares. The way he acted earlier I'm glad he's not here now. I mean, all he's been doing lately is nothing but cause trouble." 

"Leonardo, calm down. That was earlier this afternoon. I'm sure Raphael has gotten over what happened by now." Venus, still holding Leonardo's hand, tried to calm him. 

"Yeah, after all it really wasn't something to get so bent out of shape over. Its just not a big deal." Ariel commented. 

"Not a big deal? What do you guys mean 'not a big deal'? I mean he just..." Leonardo didn't get a chance to finish when Mikey and Don pulled him back towards his bedroom. 

"Um, girls we'll be right back, we just need a moment alone with Leo. OK?" Donnie called over his shoulder. Venus, Ariel and Torrie just stood still for a moment, watching the guys leave. 

"Leo, man what's up with you? Every time we even thought of Raph today you've went off. Its not like you dude" 

"Well maybe if Raph wasn't being such a jerk today I wouldn't have a reason to go off. Besides, I thought you guys were pissed at him too." 

"Yeah. We were pissed, but we got over it. C'mon Leo, just let it go already. We all know how Raph gets sometimes." Donatello said, trying to reason with the still seething Leonardo. 

"Don, in case you didn't notice he was flirting with our girlfriends. OURS. Not his." 

"Leo, just chill already. The girls aren't going to just dump us because of some harmless flirting." Mikey was sick of this argument. It seemed every time Raph said or did anything around the girls, one of them, usually Leo, would simply go off. He and Don had finally accepted earlier that part of this was caused because Raph was now seeming to be shut out. 

"Look, let me explain something to ya Leo. When you take two good friends, who've been best friends their whole lives, then add a pretty young woman, only interested in one guy, the other is bound to feel left out. That's what's been going on with Raph." 

"OK Don, I get that part. But why does he have to make things so complicated every time we go out? I mean its like he's just asking for a fight or something." 

"Dude, we haven't really invited Raph to go out with us but maybe twice before. We probably wouldn't have even asked him this time if it hadn't been for Splinter. You know he gets worried when Raph starts spending too much time alone like he has been. And since April and Casey started going out too, the only one left to hang out with here is Splinter. You know how well Raph gets along with him sometimes." 

Leo just sat there a moment. They're probably right, he thought. What did he expect after all? Three girls, four guys. It only made sense that it would be Raph who would end up getting the shorter end of the stick this time. There really hadn't been anyone else around for Raph to relate to, at least someone their own age that is. 

Leo thought back to when it was just Venus who was the only girl turtle around. At least then they all had a better chance of winning her affections. But now, with Ariel and Torrie in the picture, it really didn't seem fair. 

"You're right guys. I guess this time I've been the one acting like a jerk. When Raph gets back I'll apologize and we'll start making a point of just the guys doing stuff more often." Leo said softly. 

"Great. We'll talk it over with the girls and let them know everything will be cool from now on." 

"Hey guys, Splinter's back. Is everything cool now or what?" Torrie asked, peeking around the doorway. Mikey nodded. 

"Is Raph with you guys? I really need to talk to him about earlier today." Leo inquired of Splinter as he, Mikey and Don came out of the bedroom. 

"We were hoping Raph was here with you guys. How long has it been since you last saw him?" April asked as she helped Splinter over to the sofa. 

"He and the guys got into another fight earlier today. We haven't seen him since around noon." Torrie explained plopping down to sit beside April. 

"I see his bike's still here. Maybe he went out for a walk. Hey Gackface, Dome-drome, what's up? Wanna come and help me look for Raph. Splinter thinks this Dragon Geek may be up to something, says he felt Raph call out to him or something" Casey said. 

April shot him a dirty look. She glanced over at Leo. He had looked fine when they first came in, but now he looked as though he wanted to kill something. Casey really had a way with words some days and this was one of them. The others looked shocked, Dragon Lord hadn't tried anything fishy for quite a while now and she knew the guys wouldn't be thrilled at all at the prospect of Raphael suddenly being captured. She really wanted to just smack Casey right now. 

Splinter motioned to all the turtles to gather around and listen while April explained the possible connection between Raphaels disappearance and the weird demon sightings at the Cursed Springs in China earlier that week. 

It wouldn't until a few hours later that Raphaels missing sai would be found, lying in the middle of a sewer tunnel, drenched in freshly dried blood. 

********************************************** 

At the same time the Turtles were planning to split up and look for their missing family member, Raphael was now lying on the floor of his cell, badly beaten once again. 

This time he didn't have much time to contemplate on how soon help would come before he lost consciousness.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
